Chinese Sweet Potato Ginger Dessert Soup

Growing up in a Chinese family, my mom often made a sweet potato ginger dessert soup. It’s perfect for the winter weather, adding some spice and warmth to a chilly day or evening. It’s also great for boosting your immunity during the cold and flu season. Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid and vitamin B6, while ginger has anti-inflammatory properties. Red dates are also abundant with vitamins A, B1, and B2, protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron and magnesium.

Here, I’ve recreated the recipe so that it is now completely free of refined sugar. Instead of slab sugar, which is traditionally used in many Chinese dessert soups, I am using date paste and honey. If you’re in the mood for something new, give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes

4 inch piece of ginger

1.5 liters water

15 dried red dates

3/4 cup date paste

1-2 tablespoon raw honey

Directions:

Peel the potato and ginger skins if you like and cut the sweet potato into cubes, whatever size you like.

Slice ginger into slices (long slices are easier to remove later).

Add water and sweet potato to a large pot and bring to a boil.

Add in ginger, red dates and date paste to the boiling water.

Boil at medium heat for 15 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft and cooked through.

Remove the soup from the heat and add honey. You can remove all the ginger slices before serving hot, but this is not an absolutely necessary step.